The European Union continues to push out new rules aimed at offshore financial centers. Specifically, the Code of Conduct Group (CCG) within the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council has determined that jurisdictions that fail to satisfy the CCG’s requirement to end “preferential treatment” for non-resident companies are to be deemed ‘non-cooperative’ and effectively blacklisted ...
Due to the GDPR, the Hungarian Parliament passed a law on 1 April concerning changes to a number of acts containing data protection provisions. The Hungarian Labour Code is one of the laws that has been changed. The new law is expected to be published soon and its rules, which affect quite a number of data controllers, will become applicable on the 15th day following their publication. It can be expected that the new rules will become effective around 1 May ...
On April 9, 2019, Gov. Matt Bevin signed into law the Kentucky Pregnant Workers Act (KYPWA), which expands protections for pregnant employees under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, KRS 344.010, et seq. Reasonable Accommodations for Pregnancy Effective June 27, 2019, employers with 15 or more employees in Kentucky in at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or preceding year will be required to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions ...
A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Ridgewood Health Care Center, Inc. (Ridgewood), has changed how the Board will define a “perfectly clear successor” when evaluating whether an employer is bound by an existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after acquiring another business ...
In a recent case involving a health care facility, the NLRB issued a 3-1 decision that significantly changed a successor employer's bargaining obligations before imposing the initial terms and conditions of employment on a unionized workforce. While seemingly favorable to employers, the decision also serves as a reminder to companies that they should act cautiously and consult with counsel before they take over a business with a unionized workforce ...
The recent decision of the FOPH (FOPH, decision of 11.12.2018 - 1 ABR 13/17) gives additional grounds for further clarifying the practical question of to what extent the conduct of an employee survey is subject to worker participation by the works council. The Respondent - a parent company of a postal and logistics company - has been carrying out an annual Group-wide employee survey since 2007 using a standardized electronic questionnaire ...
Federal Labor Court, ruling of 19 December 2018 - 7 AZR 70/17 The provision of Sec. 41 p. 3 Social Code (SGB) VI allows employers and employees to postpone the termination of the employment relationship upon reaching the regular retirement age of the employee. According to a ruling of the German Federal Labor Court (BAG) of 19 December 2018 (Ref. 7 AZR 70/17), this regulation is compatible with higher-ranking law ...
FOPH of March 19, 2019 - 9 AZR 362/18 The statutory leave entitlement according to Sec. 1, 3 Federal Leave Act (BUrlG) also exists for the period of parental leave, but may be reduced by the employer pursuant to Sec. 17 (1) (1) Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG). This requires a legal declaration completed upon receipt aimed at reduction. Sec. 17 (1) BEEG is in line with EU law ...
(FOPH, Ruling of 12.13.2018, 2 AZR 378/18) In a very helpful decision for the practice, the FOPH has commented on the procedure for consulting with the representative body for severely disabled persons before dismissals. It is sufficient for the employer to consult the representative body for severely disabled persons before notice of dismissal in accordance with the basic principles applicable to the participation of the works council pursuant to Sec ...
At European and national level, discussions have been going on for years on how best to protect the so-called whistleblowers from being victims of retaliation measures by those whose actions they have uncovered. Whistleblowers are persons who, as "insiders" (such as employees) disclose dubious practices of the institutions they serve. Here we think first and foremost of persons such as Edward Snowden, whose disclosures were directed against state measures ...
Recently, Dinsmore has noticed an uptake in claimant allegations that an employer has caused an accident due to violation of a specific safety requirement (VSSR). A VSSR award is an additional award paid to the employee by the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) billed directly to state fund employers or paid directly by a self-insured employer ...
In this digest, we review key developments in the Russian migration legislation for the first quarter of 2019. 1. The Russian Government updated the list of documents required for the migration registration of foreign nationals Starting from March 20 of 2019,the Ministry of Internal Affairs extended the list of documents required for the migration registration of foreign nationals ...
Uganda has enacted the Investment Code Act, 2019 (the “Code”). The previous Code was enacted in 1991 and was long overdue for amendment given the changes in approach to attracting investment and the glaring weaknesses in the old Code. The new Code strengthens the Uganda Investment Authority (the “Authority”), establishing it as a one-stop investment centre, and also provides for the financing and auditing of the Authority ...
AFRICA: African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement developments Botswana and Zambia signed the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (“ACFTA”) on 10 February 2019 at the 32nd summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, whereas the Ethiopian Council of Ministers approved the ACFTA on 2 February 2019 and the Parliament of Senegal on 23 January 2019 ...
On April 1, 2019, the Department of Labor announced it will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its existing regulations, currently codified at 29 C.F.R. part 791, regarding whether a business qualifies as a joint employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA requires covered employers to pay nonexempt employees at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime for all hours worked more than 40 in one workweek ...
We bemoan the lacklustre stock exchange and complain that the government isn’t doing enough. We point to greener trading pastures in Hong Kong. Is it time to re-look at the role of the stock market and how we benchmark ourselves?This February,Bloombergpublished an article headlined The Incredible Shrinking Singapore Stock Market, which stated that overthe past five years, more companies had exited than joined the SGX, leading the bourse to suffer a net outflow of S$19 ...
Earlier this month, the DOL published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) to increase the minimum salary level most exempt employees must be paid in order for them to be deemed exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements. For a summary of that proposal,click here. The comment period for the proposed changes will close in late May, and it is anticipated that the salary level rules will be finalized and implemented in early 2020 ...
The Regional Labor Court (LAG) of Baden-Württemberg, in its ruling of December 20, 2018 (Ref. 17 Sat 11/18), granted an employee a comprehensive right to information against his employer with regard to all personal data collected about his person. The right to information was explicitly confirmed in relation to personal data resulting from internal investigations and data from potential whistleblowers ...
Today, on the 27th March 2019, the bill of law 7399 amending articles L. 232-2 and L. 233-4 of the Labour Code as well as article 28-1 of the amended law of 16th April 1979 establishing the general status of public servants (hereinafter the "Law") was passed by the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies. The leitmotif underpinning the Law is the same as that for the parental leave reform in 2016, namely enabling employees to achieve a greater balance between their private and professional lives ...
Employers in Kentucky are now expressly permitted to require an employee or prospective employee to agree to arbitrate or engage in some form of alternative dispute resolution as a condition of employment. On March 25, 2019, Gov. Matt Bevin signed a statutory amendment authorizing this change to KRS § 336.700. This law applies retroactively to agreements that have already been executed by employees before March 25, 2019. This amended statute does a number of things ...
A number of cases have looked at worker status in recent years, focused mostly around the ‘gig economy’ with claims against companies including Uber and Deliveroo. The gig economy typically involves individuals working in temporary positions in the service industry, such as food delivery or private couriering. The sharp increase in the number of people working in this sector has led to a huge shift in the cultural and business environment ...
Special allowances under the EPF Act need to be special On February 28, 2019, the Supreme Court of India passed a landmark order on whether special allowances fall within the scope and meaning of “basic wages” under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (the “EPF Act”) ...
The West Virginia Ethics Commission issued a new Advisory Opinion on March 7, 2019, which is going to impact the way some teachers arrange for substitutes. The opinion sought was whether it is a violation of the Ethics Act for teachers to prearrange a relative to substitute teach in their absence or place relatives on a preferred list of substitutes for their classrooms ...
One of the key issues raised consistently in the discussions around a no-deal Brexit is the impact it would have on the customs duties payable on goods that are imported in to the UK. Whilst MPs have now voted against a no-deal Brexit, this does not change the legal position – that unless a deal is agreed, there will be a no-deal Brexit, (or no Brexit at all) ...
Sponsored wellness plans that include incentives to employees who voluntarily disclose personal health information as part of disability-related inquiries or medical examinations are in legal limbo after the EEOC removed the underlying rules from the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) ...
